


Chapter 3.5: Change in cognition

by jay_the_timber_wolf



Series: We are the Phantom Thieves verse [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Personas, Talking, akira and akechi are friends, akira is secretly an evil genius, planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-27 20:09:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21397951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jay_the_timber_wolf/pseuds/jay_the_timber_wolf
Summary: Akira and Goro go over his idea to talk with Ryuji and figure out what their gonna do. They try a bit of an experiment and Goro gains Robin Hood.(This is a companion piece to We are the Phantom Thieves, I recommend to at least read up to chapter four before reading this work)
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira
Series: We are the Phantom Thieves verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542637
Kudos: 36





	Chapter 3.5: Change in cognition

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not that good at writing in third person, please forgive any mistakes I make.

"I might have an idea..." Akira said with an evil grin on his face. "Oh? Do tell." Goro said with a similar smile on his face. It wasn't often that his shy best friend took the reins with an idea of his own so he was more than happy to listen. "This boy isn't in my class so sadly I can't just pass him a note before or during class." Akira said clearly talking about the vulgar boy he accidently dragged with him to the Metaverse earlier that day. "True, it would be easier if he was." Goro said crossing his arms. "Yes, but" Akira held up his hand. "there is a rather high chance we'll bump into each other while going to and from classes." He finished.

Goro chuckled. "I like your line of thinking." He said. "Let's say that we bump into each other and we both drop some stuff. I help him pick it up before going on my way. It wouldn't be strange if I asked someone to give him a notebook that he 'drop' with his name written on it now would it?" Akira said with a smirk. Goro's own smirk was wide. "The papers is a chance to learn his name. Let you write it on said notebook, and we can easily brush off the giving it to someone else as not wanting to ruin his rep by being seen talking to him." He figured out. Akira clicked his tongue and give his friend finger guns.

"Exactly, if I read this guy correctly then he'll most likely open the notebook to read what's inside out of curiosity, so I'll write a note on the first paper for him to read. He'll see it right when he opens it." Akira said. "And I'll came with because I want to make sure he doesn't hurt you." Goro said. Akira frowned as he looked over his friend. "My friend I hate to say this but... if we go into the Metaverse to look for the cat/monster like I think we might end up doing your outfit will invoke quite a bit of fear. It took me _months_ to get use to it." He pointed out. Goro frowned, tapping his clawed gloves against one of the belts wrapped around his thigh. "Well I can't help how I look. He might ask why you know so much about the Metaverse so you'll have to mention me at some point." He said.

Akira sighed and ran a glove through his hair. "I know but unless we can somehow change your outfit then I don't want to introduce you right away." Goro's frown deepened. "Loki will probably cause some hostility as well... he's supposed to be a trickster god after all, he story also isn't a good one since he's portrayed as the villian." He sighed. Akira looked at his gloves as he tried to think of a way to introduce Goro in a friendly manner despite his outfit. The two friends sat down on the ground as they began to think, neither were sure what to do about the problem at hand. Then Akira perked up as a single fact about the Metaverse hit him, one that they had managed to learn by exploring Mementos and other people's Palaces. "This world is built on cognition."

Goro gave his friend a confused look. "Well yeah, that's how everything works around here. What's your point?" He asked. "My point is we can use that to our advantage!" Akira said standing up. Still confused Goro stood up. "How? We can't exactly change public cognition without some pretty extreme measures." He said. "We're not going to be messing with the _public's_ cognition silly! We're going to manipulating our own!" Goro raised an eyebrow. "Come again?" Akira rolled his eyes and began to explain. "Our clothes shape themselves based on how we view ourselves. The simplest answer to how we make you seem friendly is simply manipulate our cognition so that you _appear_ to be someone trustworthy and not... scary." Goro hummed and tapped his helmet. "Okay, that seems possible but can we actually do it?" He asked. 

"We wouldn't know unless we try. We've been using the Metaverse for two years now so we should be strong enough to at least change some details." Akira said. Deciding to experiment Akira looked down at his gloves and began to focus. He didn't know how the change of cognition functioned, he just knew how to do it. A small headache appeared for the briefest moment before his left glove went from red to blue. Akira waved his hand at Goro."See? It's possible." He said. "Yeah, okay. Changing the color of one glove is different than changing my entire outfit." Goro said. "We wouldn't be changing the _entire _thing. We would just be editing it so it looks more... friendly." Akira said with a shrug.

Goro raised an eyebrow at his friend who huffed. "Just try it. Let's start by changing the black to another color." Goro sighed but decided that it was worth a shot. So Goro closed his eyes and thought of his outfit. _'Replace the black with white and make the blue darker.'_ He shivered as it felt like cold paint was dumped on him and opened his eyes to see Akira staring. "Somehow... that doesn't make it any better..." The younger of the two said. Goro looked at his arms and saw that it worked, but somehow the color change made the more menacing pieces of his outfit worse. 

He sighed and began to think. "Editing this particular outfit will be too much work, it'll probably be easier to just make a new look all together." Goro said. Akira sighed and crossed his arms, his gentleman thief look suddenly giving Goro an idea. "How about a prince like onsomble?" He asked with a smile. Akira smiled as he understood what he was implying. "Of course! I'm the cunning gentleman thief who hides in the shadows." Akira bowed, pulling out a wavy bladed dagger. Goro spun around and bowed, now dressed in a white prince uniform with a red bird mask and short red cape. 

"And I'm the prince charming, the knight in shining armor that comes to save the day." He finished. The two friends chuckled as the details of their plan was starting to come together, in this new prince getup Goro was be trusted. He wouldn't be seen as in enemy like this. However they both quickly yelped as the Velvet room flashed before them before quickly disappearing. "What the hell!? Has that ever happened to you before Goro?" Akira asked, shaking slightly. The brunette shook his head. "No, never. I wonder what that was about." He said. That's when he felt something shift inside his mask, wanting to come out. 

This presence didn't feel like Loki which confused Goro. Out of curiosity he touched his mask letting the presence free. The persona that appeared was the exact opposite of Loki making both boys frown in confusion. **"I'm Robin Hood, nice to meet you."** It said before returning to the mask. Akira was gaping at Goro, both trying to wrap their heads around what they just found out. "You... have two personas..." Akira muttered. Both fell silent once again. After a bit Goro gave Akira a weak smile. "Well, at least now we don't have to worry about how they'll react to Loki." The brunette said. 

Akira groaned and rubbed his temples. "We'll try to figure this out later. Let's just go home, I'm exhausted after awakening Arsene." The raven muttered. "Yeah, let's go." Goro agreed. With that the two friends departed for the day, both very unsure what to think with the knowledge that Goro could use multiple personas.

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it. hope you enjoyed this thing.


End file.
